In 2021 and years before that, the SEO trends of 2026 are geared toward providing the users the experience – the UX – they deserve.

What SEO strategies and tactics will matter this year to dominate the results pages (SERPs)? Below are the answers.

Why SEO? Well, because SEO is not d-e-a-d

In the Philippines, brands are still skeptical about jumping into the SEO bandwagon despite having heard and observed how competitors are outranking them on Google.

That’s it. SEO is important for the sustainability of your business, especially now, wherein the digital platform is where competition happens. If you want to capture a bigger market share, SEO is one of the choices and the most critical business decision you will make.

Top SEO Trends You Should Not Ignore in 2026

Search engines have evolved more in the last two years than in the previous ten. The rise of AI-powered search, multimodal queries, and personalized result pages is reshaping how people find information — and how brands must optimize their websites.

To stay competitive in 2025, SEO strategies must prioritize real value, strong technical foundations, and content built for human intent, not just algorithms. Below are the key SEO trends shaping the landscape this year.

SEO trend #1: Search Generative Experiences (SGE) Are Now Mainstream

AI-generated summaries, conversational previews, and intent-layered answers have transformed Google search.
Brands must now optimize for:

Clarity – Google tends to surface content that explains topics simply
Authority – trustworthy sources are prioritized in AI snapshots
Context – content that answers related questions ranks higher

Creating structured, internally consistent content increases your chances of appearing in SGE-generated responses.

SEO trend #2: E-E-A-T Matters More Than Ever

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness remain core signals in 2025. This is not a checkbox — it’s a credibility system.

Strengthen E-E-A-T by:

Adding author bios with relevant credentials
Publishing first-hand insights, case studies, and data
Securing reputable backlinks
Maintaining consistent editorial quality

Google’s AI-first ranking systems prefer content backed by real-world experience.

SEO trend #3: Helpful Content Remains the Foundation

Google continues to emphasize content that:

Answers real questions
Matches intent
Demonstrates expertise
Offers actionable value

Shallow, recycled, or keyword-stuffed articles are de-prioritized.
2026 SEO success = deep, human-centered content with clear purpose.

SEO trend #4: AI + Human Collaboration Is Now Standard Practice

AI-generated drafts are increasingly acceptable — as long as they’re edited and enriched by humans.
Google rewards content that:

Includes unique perspectives
Synthesizes information in a meaningful way
Demonstrates original thought or experience

AI tools can accelerate production, but human refinement determines ranking.

SEO trend #5: Interactive and Multimodal Content Boosts Visibility

Search engines now interpret:

Images
Videos
Charts
Screenshots
Infographics
Audio

Multimodal content ranks better because it satisfies more user intents.
For example, a blog post paired with:

A short video summary
Helpful visuals
A supporting infographic

… often performs better than text-only content.

SEO trend #6: Video SEO Continues to Rise

YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Reels now influence Google’s search ecosystem more heavily.
Key video SEO practices for 2025 include:

Adding keyword-rich titles and descriptions
Providing transcripts
Answering common questions
Creating short-form clips supporting long-form content

Video is no longer optional — it is a discovery engine.

SEO trend #7: Zero-Click Searches Are Increasing

With AI answers, rich results, and people also ask (PAA) boxes, more users find answers without clicking.
Adapt by creating content that:

Provides concise, fact-driven explanations
Features structured data
Includes clear definitions
Delivers fast, straightforward insights

Your goal is to be the source Google cites — even when clicks are fewer.

SEO trend #8: Technical SEO Is Still Non-Negotiable

Fast websites still win.
Key priorities in 2025:

Core Web Vitals
Server response time
Mobile responsiveness
Clean code
Crawlable site structure
Efficient internal linking

Search engines favor sites that deliver quick, seamless experiences.

SEO trend #9: SEO-driven yet thought-provoking content

Creating exceptional content is on Google’s mandate. These 2018 updates are more keen on the overall content quality, checking the depth and breadth of site content. With this, websites with comprehensive content will be rewarded this year onwards.

The content marketing strategy shall revolve around publishing articles and blog posts worthy of acquiring links if you want to see your website on top of Google’s results pages.

Creating content that engages the users while solving their problems is the key. It would help if you used the language your users connect with on your content and guide them on what must be done next. Content maps and experience maps are your best ally.

Speakable content is in beta, according to Google. The speakable schema is a property that can identify parts of an article or blog post that are best suited for audio playback. In addition, text-to-speech (TTS) is practical and can be easily set on your device. This, too, may shape how content will be published from 2019 and the years to come.

SEO trend #10: Local SEO Continues to Evolve

Local results are increasingly personalized.
To stay competitive:

Keep Google Business Profile updated
Gather authentic, recent reviews
Optimize for “near me” conversational searches
Add localized content to your site
Ensure consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone)

Local SEO is no longer limited to retail and services — it supports all businesses with physical presence or local audience focus.

SEO trend #11: Semantic SEO and Topic Clusters Strengthen Authority

Google prefers content structured around interconnected ideas, not isolated articles.
Topic clusters help search engines understand:

Your site’s expertise
The relationships between your articles
Where your content fits within a broader ecosystem

Clusters, pillar pages, and internal links remain essential.

SEO trend #12: Brand Authority Influences Search Rankings

Search is shifting from generic ranking signals to brand-driven results.
Brands with:

consistent content
audience trust
strong online presence
credible reviews and mentions

… tend to outperform newer or inconsistent competitors.

SEO trend #13: Long-Form Content Still Performs — When It’s Intent-Matched

Length alone is not a ranking factor, but topic completeness is.
Content that ranks well in 2025 usually:

Covers the subject comprehensively
Answers multiple sub-questions
Provides examples and expert insights
Integrates multimedia

The focus is depth, not word count.

SEO trends 2016 to 2019

Mobile is big this year, and we mean B-I-G. And it shows no signs of slowing down even before Google launched Mobilegeddon in April. So here are the major changes in 2015 that will certainly pick up in 2016.

SEO trend #1: Mobile indexing

As we can see in Google Analytics reports, Google is capable of raking in traffic results based on the device the searcher uses. Google has been using this technology since 2009, although we see search results that are typically based on similar ranking algorithms.

That will change this year; there’s a 99% chance that mobile indexing will happen this year. Moreover, with the launch of Mobilegeddon comes a promise that the search engine giant will prioritize mobile-friendly sites for mobile searches. So mobile indexing is in the works.

With this in mind, SEOs need to explore the platform deeper. Next year, the mobile user experience (UX) will be another point of competition. Remember that Google is after a quality experience. That’s why it ranks mobile-optimized sites higher than those that aren’t.

SEO trend #2: Mobile site speed

Again, with UX in mind, Google aims to escalate the mobile experiences by almost forcing site owners to make their mobile sites fast. Dubbed as The AMP Project, mobile speed is another ranking factor to look at next year. AMP stands for accelerated mobile pages for creating a faster and more engaging mobile browsing experience.

Experts themselves are skeptical because desktop site speed is relatively trivial while it is a ranking signal. But don’t let the plainness of the statement fool you. Speed is a matter of fact, and roads lead to getting faster or lagging behind the competition.

On the other hand, some experts figure that AMP is here to stay. WordPress, for instance, develops a plugin to the standards of AMP. WordPress is one with Google in providing users with a much better UX, and if it means supporting a free and open Internet, then so be it.

SEO trend #3: Page speed optimization

Page speed has been in the list of yearly trends, but the changing requirements around it are getting even more sophisticated that it cannot be taken out of the lists. For emphasis, all things are equal, a fast-loading website will always outrank a slow one.

Again, the requirements are getting more stringent. If a site didn’t load in 3 seconds, 40% of the visitors would leave. More than 50% of the visitors expect the site to load within 2 seconds. And a second delay could mean a 7% loss in conversion.

Let us not forget that Google allocates a crawl budget to every website. Yes, it crawls your site for a specific period. So, if your website loads very slow, it will eat much of that crawl budget, leaving other unimportant pages uncrawled and unindexed.

SEO trend #4: Spoken query

What do Siri, Cortana, Google Now, and now, Facebook M have in common? Yep, your answer is the same as mine. These digital assistants make our lives easier and more convenient with each use.

However, for digital companies, including any SEO company, these vutlers (virtual butlers) are a completely different story. These are game-changers. In fact, in a one-day survey conducted by PhoneArena.com, about 34.36% of online users use Google Now every day, 29.99% use it now and then, and only 35.65% have never used it. Once these vutlers get into you, you cannot stop using them; they become pervasive.

These are long-tail keyword queries with context-aware results. As a result, search is more complex than ever. And they pose a serious challenge for SEOs. The goal this 2016 is to write contents that are colloquial and conversational in nature.

Speaking of content, Google had already inked a deal with Facebook and Twitter regarding search news. So, don’t be surprised to see tweets in mobile SERPs (search engine results pages), for instance.

We can only predict, but the signs are so strong we cannot ignore them. Google will heavily index more and more sites, including social networking sites, in 2016. Social media will become more relevant aggregators of information.

Apparently, SEOs need to note that the Internet and social media are getting boundary-less by the day. Therefore, social media marketing should no longer be an option but a must.

SEO trend #6: Rich answers

Rich answers are eating up the SERPs. Not only that, rich answers account for 35% of all search queries nowadays. Here is another SEO opportunity that we can all exploit. However, this too takes some getting used to, especially since it means fewer positions in the results pages.

On the other end, it could only be an opportunity if you help Google answer the questions that users ask. So, appearing as a rich answer is not necessarily about the ranking but about creating high-quality, unique, and informative content.

Again, the emphasis is on long-tail keywords on content that directly answer common questions about your niche. It looks like we cannot abandon keywords, not this 2016. And structure the content the way your readers would expect how it should be structured – most crucial information at the top. That’s the inverted pyramid, FYI.

SEO trend #7: Local search

With the power of mobile, along with the proliferation of digital assistants, there is increased pressure for local businesses to be more local. This also means escalating demand to do local SEO much better than before.

When a user searches for the nearest flower shop in Lackawanna using his Apple watch, ensure that your business will show up. It’s about country, state, region, and street and neighborhood. That’s how it’ll be in 2016 – local search becoming more local.

Local listings and schema tagging are two of your priorities. Through this, you may capture more of the local market share by showing increasingly relevant results with their queries.

SEO trend #8: Interactive content

If the content is king, interactive content is the prince. Or, it could be the crown-stealer this 2016? So, while we have to wait and see to know the answer, let’s feast on what we already know – interactive content can encourage engagement.

Think again if you believe polls are the only way to do this. There are many other ways, such as online calculators, maps, games, videos, animations, and even the scrolling experience. The goal is to make it immersive and yet non-intrusive.

Evidently, the challenge lies in creating interactive content for desktop and mobile sites. Unfortunately, it would be difficult to create interactive content for desktop websites hoping they will scale when viewed on mobile devices. So, content creation prioritization will come into play.

It only goes to show that the Internet is an ever-evolving landscape. Nonetheless, the trends are geared toward these eight items, although there could be more. One thing is for sure, though: change is coming! Embrace it or decay.

Here is the infographic.

SEO trends 2013 to 2015

The field of SEO is one of the most dynamic industries. What was effective and successful a few years ago may not be good practice now, and what may be a valuable SEO practice for this year may also not work for next year. SEO can be as changing and versatile; there are trends and predictions to what out for regularly. Below are some of these SEO trends and predictions that will hopefully help you have SEO success for 2014.

SEO trend #1: Content marketing

This aspect of search engine optimization becomes even more critical this 2014. With the significant changes in Google’s algorithm last year, notably the new Google Hummingbird algorithm, good content marketing strategies are the most solid ones you can rely on. A robust content marketing approach will be all good for websites and the businesses on these sites. In treading your content marketing path for 2014, keep in mind the following:

Offer regular, good quality, relevant content that specifically focuses on your target audience.
Offer a variety of content such as images, videos, and infographics or diagrams.
Publish content that answers comprehensive questions.
Streamline your content marketing strategies with your social media strategies.
Be a solid authority or source of knowledge in your targeted industry.

Expectedly, Google authorship will be a huge determining factor in the importance and significance of a particular piece of content. The stronger the Author Rank is of the one who wrote the content, the better. The weight of Author Rank will only get heavier in future Google updates.

SEO trend #2: Link building

Some experts say that link building has died along with the Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird. However, there is still some value to building links to your website. The key is not in the quantity of links but in getting relevant and high-quality links. Keep in mind the following when acquiring backlinks for your website:

Focus external link building efforts on the acquisition of editorially given links which are those that require human intervention and approval.
Build links that are relevant – on pages where the readers would have a genuine interest in your website.
Go for quality instead of quantity; prioritize links from high authority websites in your particular industry or niche.
Have a variety of anchor texts instead of using just a few ones.

SEO trend #3: Local SEO

A few years ago, some local businesses might put off having a more solid online presence while reasoning that they do not cater to a global clientele after all. However, nowadays, a large percentage of Google searches have geographical parameters. This means that many searches are related to location, creating an added benefit for local businesses with an excellent online presence. Whether local or not, businesses have massive potential for success this 2014 if they have a solid online presence and are optimized for search engines such as Google and Bing.

However, do not just aim for optimizing your search for search engines. The most important thing is to build a local presence with the help of your audience. Building your own brand is good, but building a community or a brand that changes and grows with the audience is so much better. Optimize your website to provide a good experience for those who are mobile and content-hungry.

SEO trend #4: Website design

A growing number of Internet users are now browsing online using their mobile phones or tablets. This already colossal percentage will only get higher for 2014, especially with the continued release of better Internet-capable mobile devices. Hence, a mobile-friendly website is a must for 2014.

However, some websites address the need for a mobile-friendly site by having a separate mobile version of their websites. Unfortunately, this practice could hurt your search engine rankings because you will now have two URLs of concern.

The best way to address the need for a mobile-friendly website is to have a responsive web design for your site. A site like this automatically adjusts its layout and size depending on the computer or device it is being viewed from, effectively removing the need for a separate mobile version of the website. This would mean that visitors to your site will all be directed to a single URL, whether they are using a computer, a laptop, a mobile phone, or a tablet.

Aside from having a single URL, having a website with a responsive web design will help you focus your SEO efforts on a single URL, and all search engine ranking value is likewise drawn to that single URL.

The role of social media continues to be very important in the SEO landscape, but more significantly, in the aspect of digital marketing. While Facebook and Twitter have long sealed their places like the social media networks to tap if you want to market your business, more visually-focused social media websites such as Instagram and Pinterest prove their worth in gaining online popularity. Other social media networks to tap are LinkedIn and, of course, Google+.

Although having accounts in various social networks is a huge step in the right direction, you will only tap the full marketing potential of these social media sites if you are active on the network and you successfully engage your followers. However, some SEO experts might say that social media marketing is separate from search engine optimization. Still, many people in the SEO industry foresee a more significant involvement and participation of social media in future Google updates. Therefore, keep the following things in mind in plotting your social media strategy:

Increase your presence in visual social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook.
Engage your Facebook followers and work on aggregation of likes, check-ins, and reviews to increase the number of targeted users who would see your business in the graph search.
Utilize and improve your Google authorship for your niche or industry.
Work on building your Google+ profile by focusing on strengthening the number of +1s and shares.

Final note

SEO has definitely changed over the years, and 2013 was a massive year in terms of changes in search engine optimization. The many changes the Google Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird, hold even for 2014. Some concepts will be more amplified than others, such as those listed above. The leading SEO thrust for 2014 that will ensure success for your site is to provide value to your users and improve user experience.

If you need an agency to push your SEO efforts, contact us. We’ve been doing SEO since 2002!